It was the best of times, it was the worst of times! For Microsoft browsers, Edge and Internet Explorer, it certainly is the latter, as both solutions continue to bleed users.
Market share for both is declining.
And in fact, the combined usage share of both apps was down 0.9% last month, the biggest dip since January this year. Microsoft browsers now have just 21% of the market, far behind the 60% user share of Google Chrome.
These numbers have been provided by US based web analytics firm Net Applications, and the scary bit is that unless things change, the browsers could practically vanish in a couple of years:
“While the share loss in the eight months of 2017 has been just over half that of same period of 2016 — illustrating a slowing of the bleeding — IE+Edge has shed almost a full percentage point each month so far this year. If that reduction rate keeps up, the browsers will vanish before this time in 2019.”
Sure, this is obviously as worst a case as you can imagine.
The situation will certainly not become this dire.
But that is not to say that Microsoft can ignore, and be not worried about, the fact that Internet users are neglecting its latest creation. The fact that Edge is still exclusive to Windows 10, and not a terribly refined browser to begin with, is something that is weighing heavily against it.
And the fact that it only gets new features twice a year, is also hampering its success.
To that end, the 2019 prediction starts to become a little more real.
But the big takeaway here is that Microsoft will have to rethink its browser strategy, and make a decision soon on where it want to go with Edge. The demise of Internet Explorer only seems to be strengthening its rivals, and that is, without doubt, the worst possible position to be in.
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